


Touch Me If You Can ('cause I'm over making sense)

by dls



Series: Don't Say a Word [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 5+1, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Awkward Flirting, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Parent T'Challa, Parent Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 17:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11651241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dls/pseuds/dls
Summary: T'Challa had heard of being tongue-tied and always considered himself blessed by Bast that he did not suffer from such awkward social ailments. Until he met Tony Stark and could not, for the life of him and to Shuri's great amusement, say anything right. Because fumbling his flirtations was far worse than simply being silent.Or: 5 Times Shuri Mocked T'Challa and the 1 Time He Didn't Mind





	Touch Me If You Can ('cause I'm over making sense)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fiskibein](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiskibein/gifts).



> A gift for the lovely [Fiskibein](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiskibein/pseuds/Fiskibein), who has gifted me with an [absolutely amazingly awesome art](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11631786) and our comment thread inspired this little fluffy 5+1. ♥ 
> 
> Since I just wanted to write the fluffiest fluff, I'm being purposely vague with the details because we all know details will lead to angst and this is an angst-free fic! Also...all the scenarios depicted in this fic were based on real life interactions between me and my husband. _All. Of. Them._ Do with that information what you will! ;)
> 
> Beta-ed by [Arboreal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arboreal).
> 
> References/Quotes   
>  Title from "Don't Say a Word" by Carah Faye.

**One.**

"Mr. Stark, I just want to say that you're beautiful and mean-" T'Challa trailed off as he lost himself in the swirling universe within Tony's amber-colored eyes. It felt as though he was falling, but without the fear of a crash landing. Perhaps floating was a better descriptor of what it was like to be ensnared by Tony's beauty. There was a furrow forming between Tony's neatly groomed brows and those brilliant eyes dimmed as they narrowed in consternation. 

Wait, consternation? 

"Well, at least you paid me a compliment before you insulted me." Tony grinned but there was no humor in enticing curve of his mouth. 

"Insult?" T'Challa reared back in offense on Tony's behalf when his brain processed what the other man said. "Who dares?" 

Now Tony looked concerned, reaching out a warm hand to grip T'Challa elbow. "Are you feeling alright, Your Highness?" 

"T'Challa,  _please_." 

"T'Cha-"  

Shuri's snort robbed T'Challa the pleasure of hearing his name from Tony's lips. "My brother is doing just fine, Mr. Stark." She slipped her hand through the crook of T'Challa's elbow, the action prompted Tony to let go. T'Challa would have growled if not for her nails digging into the sensitive pressure points on his forearm. "He suffers from a severe case of awkwardly-long-pauses, also known as the poor-timing syndrome." 

Tony looked contemplative.

Sweat beaded along T'Challa hairline. "I do not know of what you speak, Sister." 

"Perhaps this will jog your memory, you were telling Mr. Stark how he was _beautiful and mean_?" 

"So much to the world!" T'Challa supplied hastily, feeling his cheeks warm with embarrassment. "You're beautiful and mean so much to the world. Because of your clean energy initiative and medical technology advancements." 

"Oh." Tony blinked owlishly. 

 

**Two.**

"Hey, Kitty Cat." Tony wiggled his fingers.

T'Challa found himself tracking the movement of those elegant, calloused, and skillful digits. "I'd like to take you to dinner, Mr. Stark." He blurted out instead of returning the greeting like a civilized person. 

Luckily, Tony didn't seem to find fault in T'Challa's faux pas. "If you're taking me to dinner, then you should call me Tony." His smile was both confident and shy at the same time, a juxtaposition that was absolutely alluring. 

"Well, then.  _Tony_. It is a date." 

"Great." 

They stared at one another with a softness that seemed to envelope them in a haze all their own.

A personal bubble of promises to be made and vows to be said.

One that Shuri burst with her usual bluntness. "Where are you taking Tony?" 

T'Challa resisted the urge to hiss at his sister, for interrupting the moment and presuming such closeness. "I'm thinking pasta, do you like pasta? Of course, you do-" 

"I love pasta, my mother was Italian." 

"-you look like you eat carbs." 

Tony gaped then closed his mouth slowly before opening it with a pop. "Did you just say I look like I eat carbs?" 

"Um." T'Challa floundered. "I said you look like you _need_ carbs. Yes, need. Because you must work hard and need the energy. Carb-loading is not just for marathon runners." 

"O...kay." Tony nodded slowly. "There's a little Italian place two blocks from Stark Tower. Meet you there tomorrow night, um, seven-ish?" 

"Perfect. As you undoubtedly are." It wasn't his best line but T'Challa thought it was leaps and bounds above what he had already said. 

"Yes, I'm quite perfect for someone who looks like he  _eats_ carbs." 

Shuri disguised her scoff of laughter with a cough, poorly. 

 

**Three.**

The first date prompted a second, then a third, and before T'Challa realized it, he had spent almost three months in New York and nearly every moment with Tony in some capacity. They chatted via text about political strategies during the mornings when T'Challa was stuck negotiating Wakanda's reentry in D.C. and the afternoons by Tony's side in the workshop being awed by Tony's brilliance. Night time was spent exploring the city and its many fine establishments, with a few questionable ones thrown in for the sake of adventure. 

They had a whole other kind of adventure between the sheets and atop of every piece of furniture in the penthouses at both Stark Tower and the Four Seasons. 

T'Challa preferred mornings when they drifted out of slumber together, blurry eyes meeting as they blinked sleep away, it made his body tingle at how in sync they were. He also adored the times when he woke before Tony and had the privilege of watching the other man sleep. The rise and fall of Tony's chest, the little flares of his nostrils, and light flutters of his impossibly long eyelashes. 

"Morning, Lion King." Tony yawned and leaned in for a kiss, even his sweet-sour huff of morning breath was precious. 

T'Challa knew, in that moment, he was irrevocably enthralled and had no plans of breaking such a lovely spell. "Tony, I'd like to bite the bullet and call you my  _boyfriend_."

Tony shuffled back to his side of the bed and turned to lie on his stomach with his arms cushioning his chin. " _Bite the bullet_? Oh, Simba, you flatter." 

"Is that a yes?" T'Challa asked hesitantly, trailing his fingers along Tony's well-defined back and danced across the tempting curve of Tony's hips. He was vaguely aware of the American idiom and understood it to mean making a decision of much weight and importance. 

"I'll need to make a phone call first." Tony smiled, angelic and innocent. 

T'Challa felt a tendril of unease coil in his gut. It grew into knots when Tony grabbed his phone and selected a name T'Challa wished wasn't on the contact list. 

"Hey Tones." Shuri's voice chirped through the speakers. 

"Hey, Catwoman. The Michelle Pfeiffer version, of course." Tony hurriedly clarified. "Just had a quick question for you." 

"I'm all ears." Shuri sounded entirely too eager. 

"T'Challa just said he'd  _bite the bullet_ and call me his boyfriend." Tony slanted T'Challa a teasing look that made his breath stutter. "Should I accept Meowth's very _complimentary_  offer?" 

Shuri's snickers would likely haunt T'Challa for the rest of his life, but he supposed he would find a way to live with it, considering she did tell Tony to say yes. Even if it was so she could be kept in constant supply of embarrassing stories about her brother. 

 

**Four.**

Tony had a habit of singing in the shower. T'Challa approved of the lack of clothing and the tantalizingly placed bubbles, but the  _singing_ was really just a wail of incoherent words and loud shouts. It was obvious that Tony enjoyed it, but he could use a small bit of help to refine his technique and spare T'Challa's eardrums. 

Their third Christmas together was approaching quickly and it seemed like as timely of an opportunity as any. 

Before T'Challa could arrange the voice lessons for Tony, he first needed to check the other man's schedule. It wouldn't be very considerate if Tony had conflicting appointments and was unable to attend the classes. 

"Hi, love." A quick brush of lips turned into a lingering kiss. T'Challa pulled away with great reluctance. "I was wondering if you'd have Tuesday afternoons free for the foreseeable future?" 

"I think so." Tony ran his tongue over his teeth, as if he was savoring the taste of T'Challa. "Why do you ask, Garfield?" 

"Well, I managed to convince this renowned voice coach to give you private lessons and-" 

"Hold up." Tony halted T'Challa's explanation. "Did you just say a voice coach?" 

"Yes, my love. It is clear to me that you are fond of singing and I'd like to nurture that passion. Everything is much more rewarding once you become proficient at it."

Tony stared at him blankly for a long minute before bursting out in uncontrollable giggles. "Oh man, you almost had me." He wiped a hand over his face. "You have a great poker face, Tigger.  _Singing lessons?_ Oh geez, that was a good one." 

"Haha." T'Challa chuckled halfheartedly, belatedly sensing he might have committed a grave mistake and seizing the opportune escape while he could. "Yes, a joke. Shuri isn't the only one capable of humor in the family. Haha hahaha." He might have overdid it with the extra laughs. 

Tony's eyes narrowed, confirming T'Challa's suspicion and heightening his dread. "That  _was_ a joke, right?" 

"Absolutely." T'Challa nodded vehemently. 

When Christmas morning came, T'Challa gifted Tony with a ring made of vibranium, engraved with the geometry of the arc reactor, and a heartfelt marriage proposal. Which Tony accepted ardently and with many, many kisses peppered across T'Challa forehead, nose, cheeks, and lips. 

"My gift is nowhere as romantic, but the basic idea is the same." Tony said ruefully as he handed T'Challa an envelope. "I didn't know what to get the King who had everything, so I figured I'd just give you, well,  _me._ " 

T'Challa opened it with thinly-veiled curiosity and was left speechless by Tony's application for Wakandan citizenship within. Since opening their borders, Wakanda had begun issuing visas to travelers but received very few inquiries into the details of obtaining Wakandan citizenship. "How-"

"Shuri helped. She said it was her Christmas gift to me." Tony stood and shed the red robe he had on that morning - the _only_ item of clothing he had on, apparently - and settled his delectable body across T'Challa lap. "Consider this my proposal." 

"Yes." T'Challa gasped, his pajama pants suddenly too tight. "I love you." 

Tony wiggled delightfully. "I love you too." The ring on his left hand gleamed beautifully in the morning sunlight as they made love under the Christmas tree. 

T'Challa was ready to declare this the best Christmas of his life, until he saw the microphone and speakers installed in their shower. 

"Shuri's Christmas gift to  _you_." Tony smirked, slipping into the expansive stall with a shake of his perk bottom. "Since you enjoy my singing  _so much_." 

"Oh, there are other sounds I can pull from those lips." T'Challa promised as he joined his fiancé.

 

**Five.**

It would seem that some traditions were universal, such as carrying one's new spouse across a threshold. Or in T'Challa and Tony's case, the one hundred steps leading up to the Panther God's temple so the newlyweds could receive her blessing. Family members from both sides trailed after them, with Tony waving cheerfully and chatting animatedly as T'Challa held his husband with the utmost care while ascending the steps. The climb was no strain, the real struggled lay in keeping his hands away from the more tempting but less appropriate parts of Tony. 

"You doing alright there, Bagheera?" Tony nuzzled against T'Challa shoulder, mumbling sweet words of concern. 

"Do not fret, my love." T'Challa reassured confidently. "My _hind_ legs are very strong." As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Humans didn't have  _hind_ legs, they simply had legs. 

Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy were polite enough to muffle their chuckles, but Shuri just cackled like a deranged hyena. 

 

**One.**

The seconds it took for the video chat to connect felt like hours to T'Challa, who missed his family dearly. 

Tony's smile lit up the luxury hotel suite more than the chandelier overhead did. "Hey, Felix. We miss you." 

"I miss you too, my loves." T'Challa stated emphatically. "I'll be on the flight home this afternoon." 

"Can't wait." Tony's eyes glittered with relief and joy and the slightest hint of mischief, which T'Challa took to mean an enthusiastic welcome when he arrived later tonight.

"Neither can I."

"Hey, someone wants to talk to you real quick." Tony's muscular biceps tensed as he bent over to pick up their three year-old son, Peter, and settle the squirming boy on his lap to face the camera. 

"Daddy! Daddy! Are you coming home today?" 

"Yes, yes I am." T'Challa grinned at Peter's obvious excitement. He and Tony had decided on adoption to complete their little family and challenge the misconception that family was built on blood. It was second best decision T'Challa had ever made, the first being mustering up the courage to approach Tony all those years ago. 

"Oh." Peter's shoulders sagged and his lower lip quivered. "Daddy, I wish you wouldn't come home." 

T'Challa felt the air knocked out of his constricted lungs and the blood drained from his crushed heart. "What- How-" The words were little more than hoarse gasps. 

"Hey, hey." Tony's face shifted into focus. "Peter wasn't done speaking." 

"So late this time." Peter said, blissfully unaware of the agony T'Challa just experienced. "Daddy, I wish you wouldn't come home so late this time." 

"Looks like awkwardly-long-pauses trait runs in the family." Shuri sang gleefully from the background. "Like father, like son." 

For once, T'Challa didn't mind his sister's mocking. 

**Author's Note:**

> [dls-ao3.tumblr.com](https://dls-ao3.tumblr.com/)


End file.
